Did my third D Grade race tonight........here goes......
I was first one there at 5pm....thought it might have been cancelled because
of threatening rain but then Ray from Mascot Cycles rocked up and set up the
registration table. I took the lights, spares bag, mudguard, and pump off
of the bike and stashed them in my bag.
Race started off at a pretty slow pace and I took Dutchy's advice from
previous weeks and picked a wheel on the first lap to sit on. I chose some
guy in a Bike Now jersey who seemed to be reasonably strong and was riding
about 6 or so back from the leader. I pretty well followed his wheel for
the first 23 minutes of the race, even though it didn't seem right braking
on all the down hills so that I could stay in behind him.
I was feeling OK and I had decided before the race that if the bunch was
still together at the 25 min mark then I would put in a bit of an effort to
see what happens. Just as we came up the little rise after the big sweeping
downhill I got out of the saddle from about 10th wheel or so and went pretty
hard down the right hand side. I had a clear run into and out of the
hairpin and I put in for 20 metres or so up the hill and then sat up and let
the pack catch up (there was no way I could have stayed off the front). I
rejoined in at about 8th wheel or so and a couple of laps later we got the
"3 laps to go" signal.
I made sure that I stayed in the front 7 or so riders for the last three
laps but managed to stay off of the front. Coming down the hill for the
last time one of the guys upped the pace and I got on in 4th position. The
guy at the front was wearing a blue number (C grade) and I assumed that he
had been dropped and I was looking pretty good for a place.
I stayed in a pretty high gear for the corner and planned for a flying
exit but the guy in front of me went in a bit hot and braked mid-corner. I
had to go wide to the right and was going pretty slow and was in a big gear.
The C grade guy was about 10 metres away by now due to his clear run through
the corner and so I started to get the legs turning. I got on the back of
the two D graders who were side by side, stayed there for about 20m or so
and then went up the right (I had the gear turning over by now). I managed
to stay out of the seat from the bottom of the hill right up over the finish
line (those pre-Xmas secret interval sessions with Dutchy, DaveB, and Brett
paid off) and I was doing 39km/h as I crossed the line.
The only guy in front of me was the C grade dude (about 10m or so) and so I
thought I had won!! (Mental picture of Dutch "rollingeyes" cos he knows he
can whoop me in a sprint).
As I was catching up to the guy after the finish it dawned on me that it was
a bit strange that one of the C graders had participated in the sprint for D
grade?? I asked him what grade he was racing in and of course it was D
grade (there had been a stuff up at registration) so I ended up with a
second place (I don't think I would have caught him though even if he had a
green number on!!)
I am still pretty happy with the result but I am keen to win one before
going up to C grade. Saw Jazmo after the race and Lindsay came in her car
after work to give me a lift home. The guy in the Bike Now jersey came up
and asked me "are you Gags??"......he recognised my backpack from my website
and it turns out that it was Craig from aus.bicycle!!!
I learnt a couple of valuable lessons......staying out of the seat all the
way to the top of the last hill is all in the mind and as Lindsay told
me.......assume that everyone in the final sprint is in your grade!!!
Ride On,
Gags